Israel can no longer avoid a clash with its ultra-Orthodox citizens

In the imagination of the world, there could be nobody more Jewish than the ultra-Orthodox. With their black hats, sidecurls and frock coats, they are taken as the very epitome of the culture. That is why their radical fringes are appropriated by Israelophobes seeking a cover for their bigotry, as if suffering a cartoonish Jewish ally is a price worth paying to evade charges of antisemitism.

This week, pictures of such apparently devout Jews clashing with Israeli police were seized upon as another opportunity to delegitimise the state of Israel. Look, the bigots said with some glee, the real Jews are being attacked by the dastardly Zionists. Without much knowledge of that closed community, its location within the Israeli cultural landscape and the reason for the outbreak of violence, non-bigots could only watch in bewilderment.